Emergency in Ecuador: Police detain men in balaclavas who seized TV station

In the evening, people wearing balaclavas broke into the building of the TC TV station in the port city of Guayaquil and forced people to lie on the floor. They brandished weapons and explosives during the live broadcast. All this happened inside the Ecuadorian

Shortly after the armed men stormed the television station, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa issued a decree designating 20 drug trafficking groups operating in the country as terrorist groups and authorizing the Ecuadorian military to "neutralize" these groups under international humanitarian law.

The government did not say how many attacks took place after they announced that on Sunday, Los Choneros gang leader Adolfo Macias, alias "Fito," was found missing from his cell in a low-security prison. He was supposed to be transferred to a maximum security prison the same day.

Masias' whereabouts are still unknown. The prosecutor's office opened an investigation and charged two guards in connection with his alleged escape.

It should be noted that neither the police, nor the penitentiary system, nor the federal government can say for sure whether the prisoner escaped from the facility or is still hiding in it.

Macias was a convicted drug trafficker, murderer and organized crime offender. He was serving his 34-year sentence in La Regional prison in the port of Guayaquil.

Context

In recent years, Ecuador has been gripped by a surge in drug trafficking-related violence, including murders and kidnappings.

Los Choneros is one of the Ecuadorian gangs that authorities believe is responsible for the surge in violence that reached a new level last year after the assassination of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio. According to the authorities, the gang is linked to the Mexican Sinaloa cartel.

Experts and authorities have recognized that gang members actually run their cartels from prison. Detainee Macias also allegedly controlled his group directly from prison.